Give Me a Hand
by byrhthelm
Summary: Some events after FWAFS. No relationship. - Well not one planned, but you know what these characters are like! [Tali Mayfield]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** When that coin was flipped that wasn't the end of JAG, there were other people to take into account, than Harm and Mac. Here is a short story that looks at what could have happened to any of them.

 **Give Me a Hand and I'll Make It!**

Major General 'Biff' Cresswell, the USN and Marine Corps JAG, trailing a comet-like tail of Doctors, Nurses and his Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Burney, swept into the side ward, and stopped in front of one of the beds. The slight, pyjama and bathrobe clad figure of Lieutenant Natalia 'Tali' Mayfield sat to attention as best she could in the bedside chair and then, despite the fibre glass cast on her left leg, made as if to come to her feet.

"As you were Lieutenant!" Cresswell growled, "This is an informal visit, I've just come to find out how long it is before we can expect to see you back at JAG?"

Tali Mayfield bit her lip, "Not too long, I hope, sir… Just as soon as they've fixed this…" She glanced downwards at her curiously shortened left forearm, which instead of ending in a hand, terminated in bandages wrapped neatly around the stump of her wrist.

Cresswell nodded, "Great. I'm hearing good things about your progress, Lieutenant – remarkable thing, considering…"

'Yeah, considering...' Tali thought bitterly, 'Considering that it was only five days ago that I had been fighting for my life and the lives of the others and had taken an AK74 hit through my left wrist. Instead she tried to smile, "I can't wait to get out of here and back to duty, sir!"

"Good! That's what I like to hear," Cresswell replied, but at the same time he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. For some unexplained reason, he felt that the junior officer's enthusiasm didn't quite ring true. Not that that was any great surprise. Mayfield was a very attractive young woman and for her to suddenly lose a physical part of her must have come as a hell of a psychological as well as a physical blow.

Nevertheless he coughed almost apologetically, "Well, when you do return to duty, you'll have to look pretty sharp. General Ormond has recommended you for the Silver Star to go along with your Purple Heart.

"Th… thank you, sir…" Tali stuttered.

"No thanks needed, Lieutenant. You earned that medal – more than earned it from what I hear. So you just concentrate on getting better and getting back to duty so that you can receive it in the appropriate manner!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Tali snapped out in response.

"Good… well done, Lieutenant!" With a curt nod to his officer, Cresswell spun on his heel and once again, trailing his entourage after him he swept out of the ward.

Lieutenant Tali Mayfield waited until the door had closed behind her erstwhile visitors and sat in her chair, staring with loathing at her mutilated wrist and sobbing silently as the tears cascaded down her face, as she tried to remember…

 **xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

It had been routine, a field investigation in Afghanistan into an alleged attack by US Navy F/A-18s that had resulted in a local clinic being destroyed, together with loss of civilian life. Tali was deployed as the FJAG based on the carrier JFK, so Captain Baker had detailed her, accompanied by her Legalman Second Class, Yates, and an Afghan interpreter to check out the site of the alleged air raid and come up with any evidence that would either corroborate or contradict the locals' claims.

They had been helo'd directly in to the stricken village by a Seahawk UH-60, and had made themselves known to the village headman and his council. The locals weren't too happy at dealing with a woman, but Tali persevered and by the exercise of great tact and patience and accompanied by the drinking of much tea, had eventually reached an agreement with the council. She would inspect the crater – all that was left of the clinic – and if there was any evidence of USN munitions then she would recommend that the Carrier Group land a detachment of SeaBees and at least clear the ground so that rebuilding – at the Navy's expense – could start.

However, not all the council were predisposed to look favourably on the activities of the infidel, and at least one member of the council, Tali noted, had deserted the protracted negotiations, openly sneering at the brazen, bare-faced western woman as he did so.

The visit to the bombed site revealed that the Afghani's had at least some support for their claim that it had been US warplanes that had destroyed the clinic, amongst the rubble were pieces of at least two JDAMs, marked with USN stencils, incontrovertible proof that the building had been successfully targeted by US airplanes. Why the building had been targeted in the first case, was in Tali's opinion, irrelevant. There must have been some reason for it to have been hit, but the priority now was to compensate the village for the deaths and rebuild the clinic. The blame game could wait, and as far as the FJAG was concerned, the matter was above her pay-grade anyhow.

So it was with assurances that compensation and rebuilding at the Navy's expense would be forthcoming that Tali gravely shook hands with the headman and with her Legalman and interpreter climbed back aboard the waiting UH-60 for the two hours return flight back to the JFK.

The engines fired, the rotors spun and the helicopter, in its own dust storm rose, a little unsteadily into the air. The crew chief, a Naval Aircrewman Petty Officer First Class, relaxed into his seat and yelled out to Tali, "Routine run ma'am! Lieutenant Bridger is short time; he won't be taking any risks! And anyway, we've got these two guys watching out for us!" he used his thumb to indicate the pair of door gunners, each crouched behind an M240 machine gun and scanning the ground below and ahead of them.

Tali nodded, hiding a smile, the AW 1 was barely into his mid-twenties, at least half a dozen years younger than herself, while the two gunners who were even younger hardly looked like they should have been out of high school. And as for Lieutenant 'Big Jim' Bridger, she had spoken to him on a number of occasions over the last six months; the last time just a few days ago, and she knew just how keen he was to get back to his wife and the new daughter he had yet to meet, and she also knew, because he had showed her, that he kept a laminated photograph of his family in the breast pocket of his flight suit, and a second copy of that same photograph taped to the fascia of the helo he flew.

As she looked around the inside of the helo Tali's smile faded to a frown as she contemplated the lanky figure of LN Two Yates, his M-4 Carbine carelessly slung, muzzle down over his shoulder, and his eyes almost completely shut as he apparently dozed away the miles back to the carrier. Yates was Tali's personal burden. Oh, he was a competent Legalman, but he wasn't proactive enough to suit Tali's style. He was quite content to sit back and wait to be told what to do, apparently he had picked up an attitude from the Sergeant Tyree character from the old movie, 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon', he never volunteered an opinion and his almost invariable answer to any query not strictly within his purview eliciting a lazily drawled, "Well, ma'am, that ain't hardly my department," and that, while amusing in a movie, was damned aggravating in real life, particularly in the real armed forces!

Tali frowned and for about the forty eleventh time tried to make up her mind just what she was going to do about her unsatisfactory Legalman, she had just about decided to ask the JAG – General Cresswell – to have orders cut transferring him back to JAG HQ in DC, where he could settle into a humdrum, routine existence, and not have to make decisions, and where he could wait out his enlistment. He certainly wouldn't be getting a recommendation from Tali, if he should – an unlikely event – decided to re-up at the end of his present contract.

A slight nod confirmed her reluctant decision and she set about mentally composing the requisite letter of request and that's when things went to hell.

There was a blinding flash and a deafening crash from the front of the helo and Tali's surroundings became a maelstrom of whirling, spinning and falling machinery as the helo plunged earthwards, auto-rotating helplessly about its centre of gravity.

The AW One looked across at her in shock. "Hold on! We're going in!" he screamed.

Hardly had the words left his mouth and Tali, reacting to them, had grabbed the frame of her canvas seat when the helo struck the iron-baked ground of Helmand province, and everything in Tali's world went black.

Tali swum back from the darkness and up into a world of pain. Her left ankle hurt abominably and she realised that she was still strapped into her seat. Shaking her head to clear it only brought about a wave of nausea and she retched helplessly, and she fumbled with her seat belt buckle. Almost simultaneously she became aware of the smell of burning and a stab of pure panic swept over her. She was stuck inside a burning helicopter! That realisation brought about a fresh burst of energy and she grabbed her knife from its sheath on her web equipment, slashing furiously at the belt that imprisoned her. Cut free, she fell forward onto her hands and knees, and almost vomited as she recoiled in horror. Legalman Two Yates had obviously failed to secure his seat belt and had been thrown from his seat on impact. He now lay on the deck of the helo, his neck twisted at an impossible angle. Just past him she could see the hunched figure of the Crew Chief as he crawled backwards to her, tugging at something in his hands. With a sick feeling Tali realised he was dragging one of the young gunners to the door and as her hearing cleared, she could hear the youngster wailing, "Momma…!" as his blood spurted from his shoulder.

Tali gulped and ignoring the pain in her leg, she crawled forward to help the Crew Chief, "Okay, I'm with you… come on let's get him out of here!"

The crew chief, his own face twisted in a grimace of pain gave a terse nod, "I'm with you, ma'am!" and together they hauled the wounded gunner out through the helo door and into the afternoon sun.

A quick examination of the casualty showed a six inch gash high on his right shoulder. Tali was no battlefield medic, but it appeared to her that the injury wasn't too serious, unless the unfortunate gunner bled out. "First aid kit?" she gasped.

"In the helo," the crew chief acknowledged and then as Tali made to stand, he noticed that she was unable to put any weight on her injured leg. "I'll go!" he insisted and as fast he could he scurried back into the wrecked aircraft, reappearing a couple of minutes later with a medical haversack.

"Okay, I've got this," Tali muttered between clenched teeth, "Check on the others!"

"Already have ma'am. Your interpreter is out cold, your Petty Office is dead… so are both pilots and the other gunner," he added sombrely.

"What the hell happened?" Tali demanded, as she ripped open the medic's bag.

"Looks like we were hit by a missile ma'am! The whole front of the helo is blasted to hell!"

Between them they sprinkled clotting agent on the now mercifully unconscious gunner's wound and with the chief propping him in a supine position, Tali made the best attempt she could at wrapping a bandage around his chest and shoulder, to hold in place the shell dressing she had positioned over the gaping wound.

"We're lucky this thing hasn't gone up like a July Fourth rocket!" the crew chief commented thankfully as they laid the gunner down on as rock free a patch of earth as they could find.

Tali nodded, "What now?"

The crew chief looked grim. "I don't want to scare you unnecessarily, ma'am, but if we were brought down by hostiles, then it's likely that they'll come a looking for us… just so they can video the crash and prove their claim to the world, ma'am…" his eyes looked troubled.

Tali realised without having to be told what at least one of his concerns were. "Okay, so first things first. Let's get the bodies out of the helo…"

"It's not going to be pleasant, ma'am… there was fire…" the crew chief reminded her.

"I know, AW One, I know… but we don't leave our people behind do we?"

"No, ma'am!"

"Right… once we've got the bodies out… is there an SAR beacon on this bird?"

"Yes, ma'am. But whether it survived the crash…"

"Well, that's one thing we'll have to find out, isn't it! But if it's operational, let's get the damned thing up and running!

"Aye, aye, ma'am!"

"Now, what about food and water?"

"Only what we've got on our belts and in our pouches, ma'am."

"That's not good…"

"No ma'am."

"Okay, let's see if we can get that beacon working, and then…"

"Ma'am?"

"And then, AW One, if you're right and we're going to have insurgents crawling all over us, let's see what we can do about defence!"

"It might be better if we could move away from the helo, ma'am?"

"That's not an option… Your gunner is too badly hurt to move, the interpreter is till unconscious… and I … well… I think I've broken my ankle. What about you?"

"Banged up my ribs some ma'am. But I'll be okay…"

"You sure?"

"Yes, ma'am.

"Right, so what have we got?"

"Well, there's your guy's carbine and your pistol, and the two M240s, over a thousand rounds for each of them."

"Hopefully that will be enough!"

"Uh… ma'am… can you shoot?"

"Farmer's daughter from the Cumberland Gap… I'm no Davey Crockett, but I can generally hit what I aim for!"

"That's good to hear, ma'am!"

"Yeah, I guess…" despite her injury and her concerns, Tali managed a grin, and was heartened to see a corresponding lightening in her one conscious companion's expression.

"So… if you can haul the hardware out here, AW One… shit… I can't keep calling you that… what's the hell's your name?"

"Trewcastle, Ma'am. Andy Trewcastle."

"Okay then Andy, let's get set up!"

Tali concentrated hard, examining the immediate area and trying to remember what she had learned in her long ago days in ROTC about mutual support and interlocking field of fire. Of course with only two hands to defend the position, she could only hope and pray that help would arrive before the insurgents found the crash site.

Five minutes passed before Andy returned to her side, a trace of a grin on his face. "I've got the beacon working ma'am, but the thing is, it's only got its battery… there's no power from the helo to keep it charged."

"How long?" Tali demanded.

"Until the battery runs out? I'm not sure, maybe eight hours…"

"H'mm… Tali looked at the sun, now beginning to sink towards the western horizon. Okay… let's keep it going until full dark and then switch it off until the morning."

"Aye, aye ma'am. Now… where do you want this gun? The other one's pretty banged up and I don't reckon it would be safe to try to use it…"

Tali muttered a quiet "Damn!" And cast her eyes about, "At the moment, I don't have any idea… it all depends from which direction the bad guys come, if they come at all!"

"There is that," Andy agreed doubtfully.

But the bad guys came. At first it seemed that there was a dozen of them. Tali rolled into her chosen position amongst the rocks and snuggled down behind Yates' M-4 and squinted through the sights at the raggedly dressed Taliban, easing the fire selection lever and taking up the first tension on the trigger. A few yards away Andy Trewcastle set himself up behind a further cluster of boulders, the salvaged M240 on a makeshift support and locked and loaded.

Tali licked her suddenly dry lips, and waited until the insurgents were only about two hundred yards away, "Okay, Andy, short, controlled bursts, let 'em have it!"

The ripple of fire from the M240 and the three round burst from Tali's M-4 knocked four of the approaching insurgents to the ground, leaving them sprawled in their blood alongside their weapons, while the remainder of the group broke and dived for cover.

A babble of voices came to Tali's ear and to her grim pleasure it seemed to her that there was surprise, dismay and confusion amongst the voices, but that didn't stop her from loosing a further three round burst as one of the insurgent poked his head around one of the numerous rocks in an attempt to pin-point her and Andy's position. The rounds missed, but not by much and she had the satisfaction of hearing his wail of dismay as stone fragments and shards of baked hard earth splattered into his face and eyes.

"That ought to make 'em think twice!" Tali called out to Andy.

Andy's "Yes, ma'am," sounded strangely strangled and Tali turned an anxious face in his direction, "Andy, are you hit?"

"Andy shook his head, "No, ma'am, just caught my poor ol' ribs on a stone!" he joked, but Tali could hear the pain in his voice.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!" Andy insisted and then with a note of urgency in his voice added, "Watch your front!"

Tali snatched her head around to the front and saw to her horror that four of the insurgents had risen to their feet and were racing towards her, AK74s beginning to blaze as they fired from the hip. Tali instinctively took half a breath and then rapidly but smoothly squeezed the trigger three times. Two of the Taliban crumpled forward and the remaining two once again dived for shelter but this time they were only about sixty yards short of the two Americans.

Tali gulped her few seconds of inattention had nearly cost them everything. Now determined not to miss a thing, she blinked the sweat from her eyes and checked her ammunition. Not so good, three full clips, that was ninety rounds plus say twelve rounds left in the clip on the weapon. Of course she had her M9 pistol, but that was very much a weapon of last resort plus she only had two clips for it, a total of thirty rounds.

Still, there were at least half a dozen insurgents crumpled in the open, so she and the AW One had reduced the odds against hem by about fifty percent, and the remaining insurgents weren't making any aggressive moves… so what the hell were they doing? Then it came to her. The sonsabitches were waiting for reinforcements. They obviously didn't like the odds of three to one that were already in their favour, so they had sent for help from their buddies.

Tali scanned the distant horizon and her heart leapt to her throat, there were two… no… make that three plums of dust heading towards them, and they were coming quickly…

"Andy!"

"Ma'am?" The reply was weak and nearly masked by a cough.

Tali took a breath and crawled from her cover the few yards towards her companion where she saw to her shock that the front of his flight suit was covered with blood and there were splashes of blood on his weapon and the ground around it.

"Shit! You're hit!" she exclaimed.

"No, ma'am, I guess those ribs I dinged have tore up something inside…" Andy gasped, "I'll be okay if I can just rest awhiles."

Tali saw to her alarm that Andy's eyes were fluttering closed, "Damn it, Andy, No! You stay awake! Stay with me sailor! And that's an order!"

"Aye, aye, ma'am…"

Tali bit her lip and raised her head to peer over the makeshift parapet, where she could now seer three technicals, mostly Russian and Japanese made pick up trucks mounting machine guns had pulled up and were disgorging another dozen or so insurgents. Gently moving the injured crew chief to one side she laid the M-4 down next to him and eased into position behind the M240. Checking her aim, she fired a burst, about a dozen rounds into one of the vehicles, occasioning more squawks of alarm, and to her gratification a smouldering fire started amongst the rubbish gathered in the vehicle's cargo bed.

One of the new arrivals – and Tali was sure he was the village councillor who had stormed out of the meeting – was doing his utmost to incite another attack, and so with a cry of "Allahu Akhbar!" a wave of Taliban began a dodging, scuttling advance towards Tali.

Squinting through the sights she released burst after burst of 7.62mm fire, hitting sat least one more insurgent and driving the others back to ground. But again they were nearer her position. Much nearer than she wanted.

Her vigilance heightened and vaguely aware of being thirsty, Tali kept up short bursts of fire intended to keep the enemy pinned down while she waited… waited for what? She wondered. When the sun went down the advantage would be all on the Afghani's side and she, and Andy would be helpless to prevent whatever those sonsabitches had in mind.

A sickening impact on her left hand was accompanied by a wave of pain so intense that she never experienced one like it before. Incredulously she looked at the mangled remains of her hand and moaned, desperately fighting to prevent herself going into shock, and then becoming aware that Andy had crawled across to her and taking a dressing from the medic's case he wrapped I tightly around the remains of her ruined appendage.

"That ought to keep the flies off ma'am," he coughed, leaking blood from his compressed lips, "You're doing real good!"

"Not good enough, Andy! When it gets dark…"

"Yeah, I know ma'am, but remember, we still got some daylight left…"

"Yeah, right…" 'But not much…' Tali thought and then rolled back to her weapon, carefully cradling her injured limb, and fired another burst at the hint of movement in the rocks about fifty yards away.

A low thrumming sound suddenly filled Tali's ears and a pair of grey shapes, Royal Navy Lynx helicopters, flitted cross the sky, flashes at their noses showing that they were engaging the enemy vehicles with their 20mm guns. One of the bigger Russian technical heaved into the air as a deluge of 20mm shells raked into it, exploding and bursting into flame. That was enough for the remainder of the insurgents, they broke from cover and some scrambled aboard their remaining vehicles in a desperate attempt to get out of the area. Those who ran for it on foot made the wiser choice. Another pass from the Lynxes and the area was well illuminated with burning vehicles, burning bodies draped over them and machine guns dismounted by the weight of fire poured on them.

Another, louder, engine note sounded and a further Royal Navy helicopter, a Merlin, settled down no more than twenty yards from Tali's position, disgorging what seemed to her to be a whole company of soldiers.

"Sergeant Telfer!"

"Sir!"

"Check for survivors and have numbers two and three sections clean up this filth!"

"Aye, aye, sir! Corporal Warren, check that Yankee chopper for survivors! Corporal Wallace, check for hostile survivors and collect any loose weapons. Corporal Hill - perimeter defence - move it!"

A burly figure, his personal weapon, an SA-80, held at the ready, cautiously approached the wrecked UH-60, "Anyone there?" he called softly.

"Over here!" Tali responded, her voice rendered weak by relief.

"Bloody 'ell, Corp, it's a bloody woman!" the British voice resounded with surprise.

"An' what if it is. You bloody idiot. Half the world's population are bloody women. Wake up and smell the coffee!" Then in a quieter voice, "You're alright now, love, the Royals are here!"

Tali eyed the RM Commando Legend on the Marine's shoulder title and the dagger patch on his upper arm and smiled wearily in relief, "That's Lieutenant Love to you, Corporal!"

The Marine grinned in appreciation of what he saw as the petite officer's spirit and replied, "Aye, aye, ma'am. Now… let's see just what we've got here… Medic!"

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Give Me a Hand And I Will Make It.**

 **A/N:** To the guest reviewer who wrote that he/she was unhappy with the choice of title for this story. Please note the full title, which finishes with "And I will make it!" Yes, there is black humour in the short title, but those were the words spoken to me by a wounded veteran who had lost a hand. It is typical of the self-deprecating, mordant humour expressed by wounded veterans this side of the pond, and I have tried to reflect that.

 **Chapter 2**

Tali gritted her teeth against the searing, burning pain that had, almost without warning enveloped the stump of her forearm; tears sprang to her eyes as she shifted uncomfortably in her bedside chair, trying to alleviate the discomfort while she waited for the surgeon who had tidied up the surgery performed at Camp Bastion.

She hadn't been looking forward to his visit as she realised that the wound dressing wound be stripped, the sutures checked and then the wound re-dressed. She knew that for all the firm gentleness of the nurses handling her it was going to be a painful experience, but now she wanted – no, she needed – some attention, some pain-killers, anything to stop this hurt…

So it was with a silent sigh of relief that she saw the door to her room open and Commander Dalgliesh, his assistant and a couple of nurses, one wheeling a treatment cart enter the room.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. How's it going today?" Dalgliesh asked.

Tali managed a stoic grin, "Not so good, sir… it… well, it's burning…It hurts… a lot."

"Okay… on a scale of one to ten, where one is no pain and ten is unbearable, how would you rate it?"

"Seven, or maybe even an eight?" Tali suggested.

Dalgliesh nodded, "Well… given the trauma, some pain is to be expected… and we're used to that, so we'll prescribe some anti-pain meds for you, but just for now, let's have a look at the wound, shall we?"

Tali gritted her teeth once again, as one of the nurses, a Lieutenant carefully, and with as little movement as possible, cut the dressing off of Tali's forearm, and although reluctant to do so, she found she couldn't stop staring in horrified fascination at the livid bruising, its colours emphasised by the neat black lines of the stitches.

A tug on the last of the dressing brought a gasp of pain from Tali and the nurse looked up quickly at her, a smile of sympathy and apology on her lips, together with a murmured, "Sorry, Lieutenant."

Tali nodded in acknowledgement of the quiet apology and tuned her eyes back to Commander Dalgliesh, who also offered her a smile, "It may not look like it to you, Lieutenant, but that is healing very nicely. I wish I could say it was all my own work… but the British doctors in country did a fine job and all I had to do was tidy things up a little!"

Tali nodded, "But how come it's taken nearly a week for it to start hurting?" she asked.

"That's one thing we're not certain of," Dalgliesh admitted. "You see, there are three kinds of post-amputation conditions – yes, I can see that you don't like that term, but we're stuck with it! First there's phantom pain, that's where the amputated portion of the limb feels as if it's still there and is painful, then there's phantom sensation, where the patient – in this case you – can still 'feel' the limb as if it were still in place, and then there's what you're experiencing, and that is stump pain. Fortunately, that is the easiest to treat, although it may be a long process. The other two are more psychological matters than physical, so I'm afraid they are outside of my remit. But we will of course provide counselling to help you to come to terms if they make an appearance – and that is by no means certain."

"Counselling?" Tali repeated doubtfully.

"Yes, counselling." Dalgliesh looked at her carefully. "You must understand that a physical injury like the one you've suffered nearly always results in some sort of psychological adjustment to be made, and counselling will help you with that!"

He took a breath as he continued to examine Tali's forearm, "As to why it's taken a few days for the pain to come through… well, there are a variety of reasons… one reason being simply that the nerve endings in your wrist were themselves traumatised, stunned if you like, and now they're waking up. So you are going to feel discomfort, but we'll prescribe anti-pain meds and make you more comfortable. Now, Lieutenant," he turned his attention to the nurse with the treatment cart, "Re-dress the wound, please. And I'll look in on you in a couple of days Lieutenant Mayfield, and then once I'm satisfied that everything is going okay, we can start thinking about a prosthetic."

"Already?" Tali asked, her surprise jolting her out of her discomfort for a moment.

"Just as soon as the physical healing is satisfactory. I'll leave it to the techno-geeks in Physical Therapy and Prosthetics to explain all the ins and outs of modern prosthetics, but there have been some remarkable advances in recent years, verging almost on the discovery of bionic replacement limbs! We'll soon have you back at duty… a JAG, aren't you?"

Tali nodded, but asked doubtfully, "Back at duty? With a missing hand? Will it be worth it? I'll be topped out, no-one's going to promote a cripple, so at best I get a couple of years!" she finished bitterly.

"That's not necessarily so, Lieutenant!"" Dalgliesh replied, a hint of iron coming into his voice. "There are a number of amputees, some of them double amputees who have managed to continue a military career! A lot depends on you and your attitude!"

Naval training allowed Tali only one reply, "Aye, aye, sir!"

Dalgliesh allowed himself the briefest glimmer of a smile, "That's okay, lieutenant… It's all a part of your learning to cope and learning what you can and can't expect to do. So…" he cast an expert eye over the nurse's handiwork and nodded, "I'll see you again in a couple of days!"

Tali gave a moan of equal parts pain and relief at being left on her own again as Dalgliesh and his satellites left the room and slumped back into her chair, biting her lip once again as a fresh wave of pain swept over her. God, she didn't remember the pain being so bad, not even in the interval between being wounded and reaching the field hospital.

 **xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

Corporal Warren moved towards Tali, his hand out to help her to her feet, slipping a strong arm around her back to support her when it became evident that she had an injured leg which refused to bear her weight, while another Marine doubled towards them, his eyes going to the blood-soaked bandage on Tali's wrist as his hand went to the Velcro fastener of his medic's pack.

Tali shook her head, "No… see to my crew chief first! I think he's bleeding internally!"

"Go on, Pat," Corporal Warren reinforced Tali's words, "Me an' the Lieutenant here can sort this out. Are there any other casualties, ma'am?"

"Three dead, one sailor unconscious with a gashed shoulder and my interpreter, knocked out when we hit… he hasn't come round yet," Tali panted.

"Did you get that, Pat?" Warren demanded as the section's medic knelt beside Andy Trewcastle.

"Got it!" the medic affirmed.

"Corporal Warren what's going on there?"

"Wounded survivors, sir! Scanlon's checking them out, now, sir!"

The officer, apparently in command of the Marines trotted forward, the two pips on his rank slide showing him to be a Lieutenant of Royal Marines, the equivalent of a Lt (jg) or 1st Lt USMC, Tali decided.

Lieutenant Groves came to a halt in front of Tali, his eyes taking in her Navy rank designation, and with a friendly grin he introduced himself, "James Groves, ma'am, Number Three Troop, Oscar Company, 49 Commando. You'll forgive me not saluting just yet, but there may still be hostile eyes around!"

"That's okay, Lieutenant. Thank you for turning up in just the nick of time… but how…?"

"Oh... we were on a sweep when our friends…" he looked up at the pair of circling Lynxes "picked up a squawk on your SAR beacon, and as we didn't have much else to do, we decided to have a little look in. Must have just about made their day when they realised they could play with the Taliban! But that's not important right now. Let's get you and your people on board and then we can torch the wreck and get out of here! Sergeant Telfer!"

"Sir!" The Troop Sergeant appeared as if summoned by a genie.

"Body bags and stretchers; get the casualties aboard and then rig that Blackhawk for complete demolition. I don't want any two parts of it hanging together when it blows!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Sergeant Telfer's Scots accent becoming more apparent with every word he spoke.

It wasn't very much longer before Tali, her arm now supported by a sling and her ankle being firmly strapped up by one of the medics who had first tended to Andy Trewcastle, was sitting on one of the web seats that lined the interior of the Puma. Andy Telfer, much to her surprise was propped alongside her, his flight suit ripped open down to the waist and his torso lapped in bandages and his eyes half-shut while he coughed weakly, globs of blood still escaping from between his tightly pressed lips with each spasm, while one of the medics gently dabbed the blood away and encouraged him, "That's it, mate, keep coughing, show 'em that you're still with us!" and then noticing Tali's expression the Marine explained, "If he's coughing, he's coughing up blood, helping to keep his lungs clear so that he can breathe."

In response to her question that wouldn't he better lying down the two medics who had been working on him gave a decided shake of their heads, "With internal bleeding, it will be easier for him to breathe if he's upright, ma'am," one of them offered, "But he's not out of the woods yet. Not by a long way! Sarge!"

"What?" Telfer growled as he supervised the lashing down of the two stretchers holding the wounded door gunner and the Afghan interpreter,

"Time's getting a bit iffy…" the Lance Corporal medic suggested, with a significant glance at Trewcastle.

"He'll have to hold on, we're nearly done!" Telfer replied. "Mister Groves is just setting the demo…"

Hard on his words came a dull "whoomph" as the low pressure explosion and the subsequent fire started to consume the wrecked UH-60.

Groves bounded in through the door of the Puma and nodded to that helicopter's crew chief, "Okay, Chief – let's go!"

The slowly turning rotors gathered speed until they bit the air, and with that peculiar lurch that helicopters all seem to develop the machine took to the skies again, the two Lynxes flying in formation with it as it head back to the sanctuary of the base known as Camp Bastion and the field hospital it contained.

 **xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

Tali's memories were interrupted by the entry of one of Dalgkliesh's nurses holding a plastic cup in her hand, "Okay, Lieutenant, pain meds. Two of these four times a day until we see how they're doing for you. Shall I pour a glass of water for you?"

Tali flushed and shook her head, "No, I think I can manage that without making too much of a mess…"

"Good for you!" the nurse approved and waited until Tali had poured the necessary water and then said apologetically, "These won't taste very good, or so I'm told, so plenty of water and down in one!"

Tali nodded, grateful for the meds and for the information, then threw the pills into her mouth and took a huge gulp of water. "Ugh! You're right! That's disgusting!"

"H'mm… and there might be some side effects, nothing too drastic, but they may make you drowsy, so no alcohol, no driving and no operating heavy machinery!" the nurse quipped.

"Yeah, thanks!" Tali responded dryly, wondering why Nurses and Doctors all seemed to be failed stand-up comics.

The nurse Lieutenant gave Tali a second encouraging smile, "And don't think you have to stay vertical, if you get sleepy, get to your rack. We don't want you falling over and re-injuring yourself."

"Thanks, I'll bear that in mind!" Tali almost snapped at the nurse.

"Too much paperwork if you hurt yourself in here!" she grinned.

"And everyone's a comic!" Tali growled, not amused at the nurse's levity.

Recognising Tali's mood, the nurse contented herself with a final smile and slipped out of the room.

 **xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

The nurse Lieutenant's prediction bore fruit and about half an hour after taking her pills Tali felt her eyes grow heavy, so laying aside the insipid magazine on which she had been trying to concentrate, she hauled herself unsteadily to her feet and leaning heavily on the single crutch, all she could manage, took the two awkward steps to her bed and relaxed onto it, hardly even aware as the crutch slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor.

She returned to consciousness some time later, roused from her sleep by a worried voice insistently calling her name, "Natalia, wake up, child. Wake up, please…"

Even through her drug-induced stupor Tali felt her blood run cold; only one person ever called her 'Natalia, child' – her mother. Her mother couldn't be here! Her mother couldn't see her like this! Ever! Tali's eyes fluttered open as she fought her way back to full consciousness and saw to her horror that both her parents were stood next to her bed. Tears were brimming from her mother's eyes, and even worse, her father, her rock, her tower of strength had eyes that were also suspiciously bright.

Jamming her injured arm into the pocket of her bathrobe, wincing at the pain even as she did so, but trying to hide her loss, she struggled upright against the pillows of her bed and looked aghast at her visitors, "Get out!" she nearly screamed at them.

"Natalia…" her mother started to protest, but was overridden by Tali's repeated yells.

"No! Go away! Get out! Out! Out!"

"Natalia!" her father said loudly, trying to dominate her by sheer force of voice.

"No! I don't want you here! Get out! Leave me alone!" Tali wailed, hunching her shoulders and trying to withdraw deeper into herself as she turned her back towards her parents.

The noise of the outburst brought two of the nurses running into the room, and the senior of the two, wearing the bronze oak leaves of a Lieutenant Commander took charge of the situation, "I'm sorry, sir, ma'am, you're going to have to leave for a while – you're upsetting the patient!"

"But she's our daughter!" Joanna Mayfield protested.

"I understand that, ma'am, but we can't have you upsetting her like this, it's not good for her to get worked up… and… and…" she exchanged a glance with the other nurse, "the noise is upsetting our other patients, too."

That last comment got through to the Mayfields when perhaps any other argument would not have worked, so reluctantly Clifford and Joanna allowed themselves to be led out of the room as Tali curled up into a foetal position on the bed, racking sobs shaking her whole body as fresh tears poured down her face.

The nurse led Tali's bewildered parents along the hallway, through an open space that was occupied by other patients, most of whom seemed, to their uncritical eyes, to be cheerful enough, some in wheelchairs their leg stumps plainly visible, reading books and magazines, or listening to music via ear buds on personal recording devices, or just talking casually amongst themselves, while others sat at tables assembling jigsaw puzzles with damaged hands, others yet talking casually between themselves, while a coterie of four sat at a corner table, earnestly involved in dissecting a recently played hand of bridge.

Lieutenant Commander Groombridge led the Mayfields into an office just behind the nurses' station and let a smile, that she hoped was reassuring, spread across her face, "That was a bit of an upset for you too, I'm sure…" she began.

Joanna Mayfield shook her head, "What was she thinking… ordering us out like that, like she didn't want to see us at all…!"

"Well, she probably didn't, doesn't and won't want anyone she knows to see her for a while… I can't speak ffrom personal experience, obviously, but we've seen this so many times. I saw you looking at the recreation room, how some of the other patients were doing… Well, it takes time for recent amputees to adjust, some make the adjustment quickly, but for others it can take a whole lot longer. I can get a doctor to try to explain…"

Clifford Mayfield shook his head, "I don't know… It don't seem that anything can help right now…"

Groombridge shook her head in patient sympathy, "Yes, I can see it's hard for you, but your daughter… well…"

"Yeah, it's even harder for her," Clifford agreed, "But for her to reject us like that…"

"Well, she's probably experiencing a whole range of emotions from being ashamed, disgust with herself, feeling incomplete, tarnished, spoiled goods… And I'll bet she's always felt like your little Princess, right?"

Joanna Mayfield nodded, "Oh, Lord, yes. Natalia has always been her daddy's Princess!"

"And now she probably feels something like she's let you down, she's not perfect anymore."

"She hasn't let us down! We're so proud of her!" Joanna denied the implied accusation.

Clifford shook his head as he asked almost helplessly "What can we do?".

Lieutenant Commander Groombridge shook her head slowly, "Give her time… don't press her. Let her come to terms with herself before you put pressure on her to come to terms with you…"

"Oh, it's going to be so hard…" Joanna Mayfield mourned.

Groombridge nodded, "And it's going to get worse… I understand that you come from Tennessee?"

The Mayfields nodded in unison and Groombridge took a deep breath and gave a most unmilitary shrug, "Well, given your daughter's reaction to you today, I suggest that you go home and write her, and keep writing her, even if she doesn't write you back. Reassure her that she's still your Princess, that despite her injury she's still your perfect little girl, and wait until she's ready to accept your acceptance." Another shrug followed, "I know it's hard, but in your daughter's interests… Yes, you have our sympathy, but our priority must be the lieutenant's physical and emotional welfare."

"Oh… that's so cruel…" Joanna complained.

"Yeah, it is, but… the nurse is right… unless…?"

"Unless?"

"Well, it's too late today to make a start for home, maybe if we visited tomorrow and let her know we were here… she wouldn't have to see us unless she wanted to, but…"

"But," agreed Groombridge, and then on a sterner note, "But if she says she doesn't want to see you, then it's got to be her decision – and we'll all have to abide by it!"

The Mayfields again nodded unhappily, but in reluctant acceptance of Groombridge's caveat.

 **xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

Lieutenant Corrigan dropped into Tali's deserted chair and tentatively placed a hand on her patient's shoulder, "Hey, hey, it's okay… they've gone," she said soothingly. "It's just us girls now…"

Tali uncoiled a little, "Oh, why, why did they have to come… How can I let them see me like this? How can they even look at me now?"

"Well, at a rough guess," Anne Corrigan's voice took on a slight rebuking tone, "I'd say that they can stand to see you, because they are your folks, and my guess is that they love you. I mean they've travelled all the way up from Tennessee… isn't it? Yeah, I thought so," she added as Tali nodded. "Well, looking at your dad, I'd say he's still working… so he's had to drop everything just to haul ass up here. Now, I don't know about you, but that says something to me!"

Tali sniffled and reached with her remaining hand for the box of Kleenex on the hospital issue nightstand the other side of the bed. "I guess," she admitted reluctantly, "But I can't stand looking at… at that…" her face creased in a grimace of disgust.

"I get it, I really do. You're not the first patient to feel that way straight after surgery, and I'm pretty darned sure that you won't be the last! So… not that you don't feel singled out, but just remember that other folks have been through pretty much the same." Anne hesitated a moment before adding, "Things should get better for you, though…"

"Yeah? Really?" Tali snarled cynically as she hitched herself up into a sitting position and although her face still showed signs of her tears the glare she sent at the nurse was not far short of poisonous.

"Oh, wow! Medusa much!" Anne chuckled. "Okay… you're obviously not in the mood for a pep talk… but is there anything else we can do for you right now?"

Tali was startled by the sudden change of subject, and floundered for a few moments, "Uh… oh… yeah… could you rustle up some sort reading material, other than that pap?" she asked with a withering glance at the despised celebrity magazine.

"Fiction or nonfiction?" Anne asked with a grin.

"Uh… fiction, something like Creighton, Grisham or Dan Brown, something I can get my teeth into… it looks like I'm going to be here for a while…"

"Well, a lot of that depends on you, but we will try to get you back to a more normal life as soon as you're capable!"

Tali nodded and then another thought occurred to her, "Oh, yeah, and no more visitors unless and until I say so, please?"

"I'll pass the message on," Anne Corrigan assured her, but thinking meanwhile, 'That's not a good sign…' "And I'll get a Corpsman to call around with a selection of books for you."

"Thank you!"

 **xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

As Anne Corrigan had promised a Corpsman Two soon appeared with an armful of books which he deposited on the night stand with a cheerful, "Here ya go, ma'am! Reading material as requested!"

Tali nodded her thanks and asked him, "Just pass me the top one off the pile please!"

The top book off the stack turned out not to be by one of the authors she had requested, but was a mystery novel by Kathy Reichs. Tali had caught a couple of episodes of the TV series about the same character that featured in the book, so it was with a fair degree of equanimity that she opened the book, but finding almost at once that reading it on her lap ideally required the use of two hands, but whether driven by determination or sheer boredom Tali evolved a method of pinning the book in place on the bed with her left elbow while she used her right hand to turn the pages.

The afternoon and evening passed quietly enough with the only interruptions being another visit from Anne Corrigan with her next dose of medications and the arrival of her inner – an unappealing mess of mashed potato and ground beef in an onion gravy followed by the inevitable lime Jell-O all washed down with weak as ditch-water strength hospital coffee. Still, unless Tali wanted the humiliation of having someone else cut up her meal for her mashed potato and ground beef was about all she could manage one-handed.

 **xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

The combination of reading, fatigue and medication sent Tali to bed early and although she soon fell asleep she awoke three or four times during the night, once with a shout of pain as she rolled over in her sleep and caught the stump of her wrist between her ribs and the guard rails of the bed. Cursing silently and with tears in her eyes she waited until the pain had lessened and then, but without much hope, tried once more to get back to sleep, unconscious that while she slept the two nurses on the night shift kept an occasional eye on her.

The following morning, and much to Tali's humiliation, after the usual routine of being helped to wash and dress in fresh pyjamas and a breakfast of eggs and toast, again food she was able to scoop up with her one good hand, she was left alone to continue her reading until the Doctor's rounds. This time it was a Lieutenant Commander Lincoln, an imposing African American who had the physique of an NFL Tackle, but a surprisingly gently touch.

"I understand that my colleague had a look at the wound, yesterday?" he asked Tali in a deep baritone.

Tali nodded.

"And he was happy with what he saw? Right?"

Again Tali nodded, drawing in a deep breath as she mentally prepared herself for the ordeal of having the wound dressings removed and then replaced.

But Commander Lincoln merely smiled, "Well… unless there are any developments from yesterday, I'm not going to disturb the wound. The less time we spend poking and prodding at it, the quicker it will heal! Now…" he consulted Tali's notes, "I see you've been prescribed some pretty heavy duty pain killers. How are they working out?"

"Uh… Fine… they're dealing with the pain, oaky. I mean it's still there, sort of hovering on the edge of feeling, but it's bearable… and at least it's physical pain…"

"Rather than phantom pain, huh? I see you're picking up the jargon already!" Lincoln grinned.

Tali flushed slightly, "Yeah, I guess…" she admitted.

"Well, that's a start…" he paused, "I understand you had a little bit of an upset yesterday?"

Tali nodded, "Yeah, my folks came to see me… and I don't want… I _can't_ let them see me like this…"

"I see… Well, I've been asked to tell you that they're here again today. Do you think you might be able to talk to them now, they…"

Tali interrupted furiously, "No! Absolutely not! I told the nurse last night, no visitors until I say so!" Tali took a breath, "Sorry, sir, but I'm just not ready to see anyone. Not yet!"

"That's okay, I'll let them know, but they will be disappointed, having travelled all the way up from Kentucky…"

"Tennessee, sir!" Tali corrected the doctor.

"Tennessee, then! And they're saying that if they can't see you, they'll have to get back home… I understand that your dad runs his own business?"

Tali nodded, "Yeah, he owns a timber sawmill… He needs to be looking after that, not hanging out all over DC!"

Lincoln nodded again, "Okay, Lieutenant, well, I'm pleased to be able tell you that you're looking much better than three days ago when you arrived from down range, and I'm pretty sure we can look forward to a positive outcome in your case. But for the moment, I'll leave you in peace with your book," he finished casting an eye on the somewhat garish paperback cover, "Ah, Kathy Reichs – a most talented woman! Anthropologist and author! I wish I had her time to split my career between two paths! So, I'll see you again tomorrow, Lieutenant!"

Tali straightened in her chair, "Aye, aye, sir!", and then pulled a face as the Nurse Lieutenant with Lincoln offered her the small plastic cup with the two pain killing tablets in it, and with the help of as large gulp of water washed them don her throat.

Breathing a sigh of relief as Commander Lincoln and his two nurses left the room, Tali swivelled back towards the bed and re-arranged the book for her maximum convenience and began again to lose herself in the multiple twists turns of what was turning out to be a complicated plot line, while she waited for the side effects of the pills to kick in.

She was just beginning to feel drowsy when the door to her room opened and a slightly wheezing but cheerful voice called out, "Hey, anyone to home?"

Tali blinked off her drowsiness, her temper starting to rise at this unwarranted intrusion, "Damn it! I said no visitors!" she shouted.

"Hey, easy, ma'am, I ain't no visitor, well, not properly, anyhoo," a familiar voice replied as a young woman in civilian clothes pushed a wheelchair into the room.

Tali's mood changed instantly, "Andy! Oh.. AW One Trewcastle! Oh, I'm so glad to see you!"

"You are?" Andy asked, with a tinge of amusement in his voice, "'Cos it sure didn't sound like that a few moments ago!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, it's just that everyone wants me to meet people, and I… well…" Tali took belated note of the young woman who smiled fondly at the man in the wheelchair.

"Oh! My manners, ma'am, my Ma would have ripped me a new six for them being so poor... Lieutenant this is my sister Alison, she's come up from Fredericksburg to keep me company while I get over what they done to me…" Andy's face fell for an instant, but then his grin returned, "Hey, it could be worse, it could be raining! And Alison, this is Lieutenant Mayfield, the one I told you about, the one who kept the enemy off our backs!"

"You did a fair bit of that yourself, Trewcastle, so don't sell yourself short." Tali smiled at the younger man. "But you say you're recovering from what they did to you… How bad is it?"

"Well, those broken ribs tore up my lung pretty bad, ma'am, and they had to cut out one of the lobes of the left lung…" Again Andy's face fell, "So it looks like my Navy days are over, I can't hardly walk more than about twenty yards without running out of breath…"

"It will get better, though, Andy. You know it will, the doctors told you that!" Alison interrupted her brother.

"Yeah, maybe, but not enough so that I can stay in the Navy!" Trewcastle said bitterly.

"That's tough," Tali commiserated with the sailor.

"Yeah, but I'll get by… But what about you ma'am?"

"Well… The medics reckon I'll be able to return to duty as a JAG but with some sort of hook, I guess…"

"Hey, they do some pretty good stuff with that kind of thing these days, ma'am," Andy commented and then continued, "And at least we're still here… Which kinda brings me round to why I'm here… Officially I'm UA from the ward… but we're still here… and Lieutenant Bridger and the rest of the crew ain't. Oh, AW Two Jackson, the door gunner… he's all stitched up and on a coupla weeks hospital leave before he re-joins the ship… But Lieutenant Bridger's funeral is at Arlington in three days' time… I was figuring on going if the Docs let me, an' I wondered if you might want to go too… I'm pretty sure it can be arranged…"

Tali's mouth opened in surprise, "Oh… Ah… Yeah, I guess we ought to go, pay our respects… but… I'm not sure I'm ready to get out and about just yet. Can I think about it and let you know the answer… I mean there's a question of uniform and transport… I'm pretty sure that neither of us can drive yet…"

"That's fine ma'am. I'm on the thoracic ward, up on the male surgical deck… I'm pretty sure that the nurses or corpsmen can get a message to me.

"Yeah, I'm sure they can" Tali agreed and then had to stifle a yawn, "Oh, I'm sorry, Trewcastle, they've got me on some meds that make me drowsy… and I was about to fall asleep when you arrived."

"That's okay ma'am… and seeing how your eyes are practically closed, we'll leave you in peace – for now. But I sure would like an answer…"

"And you shall have one!" Tali promised.

"See you later, ma'am!"

"Yes, of course! It was good to see you made it back, Andy… and it was nice to meet you too, Miss Trewcastle."


End file.
